Médécins sans Frontières (MSF) has expressed deep concern about overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions for thousands of Rwandan Hutus who have fled into Burundi fearing persecution at home.
The group said the weekend move to repatriate forcibly the Rwandans, whose presence in Burundi has caused a row between Kigali and Bujumbura, left them in an ”unacceptable” state in a small transit camp near the border.
”As each day passes, the situation is growing more precarious for these refugees, who have already suffered a series of displacements and forced transfers since … they crossed the Rwandan border to seek asylum,” MSF said in a statement released late on Wednesday.
On Saturday, Burundian authorities began to transfer up to 8 000 Rwandans from seven camps in Burundi to the Songore transit facility, about 20km from the border, in preparation for their return home.
MSF said about 6 700 Rwandans are now in Songore, which has a capacity of only 800 people ”and is absolutely not suited to accommodate the refugees”.
”Lack of water, access to food and shelter are weakening this population’s health and increasing the risks of epidemics and malnutrition,” MSF said.
”MSF teams working in the field to evaluate the situation of the refugees are alarmed by what they are witnessing,” the statement added.
A senior official with Burundi’s interior ministry acknowledged that conditions in the camp are ”precarious”, but said the government is working to improve the situation and is continuing efforts to convince the Rwandans to return home.
According to United Nations and other officials, as many as 8 000 Rwandans have crossed into Burundi since March to avoid trials at village tribunals set up to judge those suspected of involvement in the 1994 genocide during which about 800 000, mainly minority Tutsis, were slaughtered.
Many of the Rwandans say they are also fleeing rumoured threats of massacres.
Burundi at first said the Rwandans could be entitled to refugee status, but this stance infuriated Rwanda, which said those who fled are fugitives from justice.
The two countries reached an accord last month in which Burundi agreed not to treat the Rwandans as refugees and assist Kigali in convincing them to return home voluntarily. — Sapa-AFP